666 Ate Cheli’s Christmas Celebration with Bahay Maria

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Written by Vice President for External, Ate Charmain Tan

It’s another jam-packed Saturday as this was one of the three events we had for the afternoon and one of the five events for the day. As we are nearing Christmas more and more people are looking for ways on how they can share their blessings. It was the Christmas celebration of Ate Cheli and her family. She wanted to give back this holiday season by spending time with the children of Bahay Maria. She’s done some volunteer work in the past so she wanted to instill the same values to her children. She was saying the youth nowadays are more sheltered so she wanted her children to be more aware. Joining her is her sister in law Ate Bettina and family.

Another group of volunteers that joined us that afternoon was the team from SGV & Co. Accounting Firm. The group wanted to do some volunteer work and wanted to spend some time with the kids. We look forward to having them partner in our future events.

The event was held at Bahay Maria, one of the beneficiaries we’ve been partnering for a long time now. The orphanage for girls is located in Bel-Air Village in Rockwell Makati.

We started the fun afternoon with the volunteers introducing themselves and giving a short dance. Ate Cheli’s son Kuya Anton wanted to show the kids his dancing skills. He picked the popular song Nae Nae. He showed the dance steps of the song while the kids energetically danced with him.

We then grouped the kids with the volunteers and asked them to create their group names. Since it’s the holiday season most of the group names were related to Christmas. The names were Thank You for the Love, Liwanag ng Paso, Star ng Paso, Pasko Nanaman, and Mailigayang Paso. The kids and the volunteers talked about what their wish is for this holiday season. Most of the kids had a simple wish. They just wanted to able to have a family and spend Christmas together with them. With Bahay Maria being an orphanage, it was touching to hear the children say that.

We then played a modified rock paper scissors game. We gave 5 rubber bands to each of the members of the group. The team members were to challenge each other with the game. Whoever wins gets a rubber band from the losing person. Whoever had the most rubber band won. The children enthusiastically went around to challenge their teammates.

After the exciting game we had the magic show. The kids watched gleefully as the magician performed popular tricks. One of the favorites was the empty bag trick where the paper bag seemed empty but the magician was able to pull out more than 10 boxes of presents. Another perennial favorite was the flying table. The magician asked a couple of volunteers to hold one end of the table while it flew off the ground.

We then had the storytelling by the talented Kuya Rich. He started with a fun warm up activity. He asked everyone to move their body parts, like elbows, arms, knees, and make a funny pose. While doing the pose everyone chanted “A chi chi cha” repeatedly. The kids did the movements and the chants so happily. It was fun to see everyone following the chants and poses. He then asked who wanted to perform in front. Several kids, together with their Ates, eagerly went up the front. Kuya Rich gave story books to the kids for a job well done. Kuya Rich then moved on to the main story telling event. He told a story of a frog who wanted to be a tenor singer and ended up being a good conductor. The animated Kuya Rich made different voices and even sang while doing the story telling. The children happily watched and participated in the activity.

After a full afternoon it was time to take a break. We not only had our delicious chicken and spaghetti meal but we also had a french fries food cart treat for the kids. We also gave out school supplies for the children. The kids hugged and thanked the Ates and Kuyas for spending their time with them. It was indeed a worthwhile afternoon.